The Town of Beginnings was as bustling as ever even as higher floors continued to be cleared and new floors accessible for travel.
The town, large enough to fit an entire Tokyo district, still housed a large number of players who either chose to stay there and await their liberation, or chose a cheaper real estate here to set up base while they ventured off to higher floors.
As a result, despite the dwindling number of players, the town was still filled with plenty of players who chose to have a slower life. A stark contrast to the "Clearers" up above the higher floors.
And the slower pace was the exact reason why Yuuji and Asuna chose to come to this floor after several weeks filled with intense leveling and boss raids that opened up floors 38 and 39.
A chance to relax, and enjoy a life far from the battles and intensity of the higher floors.
Moreover, going around a large city like the Town of Beginnings gave them a chance to have a date in a city like they would in the real world. Or at least, as close as they could be while they're still in the world of Sword Art Online.
It was a nice change of pace when they'd normally enjoy the nature on the 22nd floor for their date, or go to places with unique biomes and environment that they'd rarely find in the real world.
This time, however, they didn't descend to the first floor for a date. Though, they'd still take detours with arms linked together.
The two didn't even wear their hoods, although Yuuji still wore his mask.
Most players who knew of them and their appearance were on the higher floors. In the Town of Beginnings, only their names would be known, not their appearance. So Asuna was able to enjoy walking around without anything to hide her appearance.
On the other hand, Yuuji still wore his mask. Not because he was recognizable, but because he would still attract too much attention, disregarding if they knew of his reputation.
But soon, the two headed to their main destination.
The teleporter plaza at the center of the Town of Beginnings, the place where 10,000 players first teleported into forcefully on the first day of this death game.
They've agreed to meet up with their friends there. It was a place they'd often visit.
Soon enough, the faint sound of a beautiful song reached their ears through the breeze that blew across the Town of Beginnings.
Around them, other players and NPCs also turned towards the sound in wonder.
"Oh? Uta-chan is singing today, huh?"
"Let's check her out! It's been a while since she came to the first floor."
"Right, let's go. She's going to the higher floors more often now to encourage the clearers. Who knows when she'll return here."
Some players began making their way towards the plaza. Then a few more. Before the flow of crowds that moved out from the plaza began to flow back towards the teleporter plaza.
"Yuuji, we need to hurry before it becomes a whole concert!"
"Y-You don't need to pull!"
His pleas were lost in the wind as Asuna began pulling him along through their linked arms, and began making their way to the teleporter plaza.
The song began to become clearer and clearer, and no matter how many times they heard it, they were still as awed as they were the first time.
The number of players became more numerous as they approached the teleporter plaza. And they would've been dealing with a crowd if they were just a few minutes later than they were.
But thankfully, they arrived at the plaza at the tail end of the first song.
There was a moment of silence. A moment filled with the wish of many for the song not to end. But they soon realized that their wishes weren't granted. And instead, applause filled the area around the teleporter plaza.
"Thank you, everyone."
The melodic voice, who had sung the song that enchanted many, spoke softly. Yet, her voice seemed to carry far beyond what it was supposed to.
Her short, milk-tea-brown hair and pure white feather on her white hat fluttered as the pure white cape billowed behind her vivid royal-blue one-piece dress with golden frills and buckle in the same breeze.
Her cute and small face, shaded under her hat, smiled widely as she gazed upon her audience, her hazelnut eyes filled with the same amount of happiness as it did when she first performed in front of a single audience.
Just the fact that someone would spare their time and listen to her song filled her heart with joy.
But then, her eyes soon landed on a familiar pair in the midst of the crowd. A tall man in a mask, and a beautiful girl who was smiling wide and waving her hand up in the sky at her.
"Ah, Asuna!"
Her eyes brightened, and she waved a hand back at her while holding her lute with the other.
"Yuna! It's been a while!"
Asuna ran up towards her, letting go of her clutches on Yuuji, and hugged the songstress that had enchanted the crowd around them.
And as the two hugged out their reunion, Yuuji simply stood with his arms crossed, watching over them with warm eyes.
"You seem to be doing good. You didn't get into any trouble, did you?"
Yuuji seemed to speak to no one, keeping his gaze at the two girls, when a beautiful woman silently appeared to stand beside him.
Her long, wavy hair that she had dyed with premium super light green dye bounced as she stepped to his side.
She clasped her hands behind her as she leaned forward, letting gravity pronounce her bountiful chest that exerted themselves even through her white shirt and coat with belts strapped above and below her chest.
"I wouldn't be here if I was. How about you, "Sword God"~? I heard you and the "Flash" had been going on a rampage up above."
Her voice was smooth, gentle, and soothing. It was not, in any way, inferior to the voice of the songstress. Yet, her words, combined with her teasing tone and cheshire grin ruined everything, eliciting a groan from Yuuji.
"You really won't let that go, huh?"
"What~? I'm not the one who gave you that nickname~ You're the one who parried every single attack from a floor boss and solo-tanked for the entire fight~"
There had been many legends born from his various achievements and actions during boss raids and battles. Many more if people were to not dismiss some of them for being too "unbelievable".
And as those legends grew more and more, before he knew it, the epithet stuck, and there was no way for Yuuji to make it disappear.
He shook his head, and finally looked down towards the girl who stood barely to his shoulders.
"Either way, it's good to see you doing good. You haven't been lurking around dangerous stuff right, Lux?"
She stood back up with a small grin, clasping her hands behind her back.
"No, not since our big raid on the 27th floor. And I'll stay low for the time being. At least, until everything blows away."
Yuuji nodded, and her words brought back memories of his and Asuna's first meeting with the beautiful silver-haired girl a few weeks ago.
Yuuji and Asuna found her surrounded by members of the red-guild, Laughing Coffin.
They later found out that she was trapped in an anti-crystal trap room within the depths of the 32nd floor's labyrinth after a messy end to her party's attempt at clearing a notoriously difficult dungeon filled with traps. The Laughing Coffin members saved her, and when they were about to coerce her into joining their guild, Yuuji and Asuna found them.
The moment they encountered one another, the two immediately charged with the swiftness of a blade.
It didn't take long before they were subdued. All… But one, who was cunning and smart enough to run and escape, leaving the rest of his guild mates behind.
He only had a brief glance at the name that hung above his head and noted it.
PoH.
Yuuji tried to interrogate the subdued members, asking who their leader was, the location of their base.
Nothing came of it.
One tried to escape, and ended up with a rapier pierced from behind him. And thinking of his comrade's failed attempt to escape as a chance, another lunged at Yuuji to stab him, only to find a sword piercing through his neck mid-lunge faster than he could realize what had happened.
'Foolish… Reckless.'
Yuuji doubted their actions to be done out of loyalty.
They were cowards. These people, who took pleasure in taking the lives of others, feared having their lives taken above all things.
Seeing the green markers above Yuuji and Asuna's heads, they thought they wouldn't kill them.
No matter how highly leveled they were, green players were "foolish" and innocent enough to hesitate at the thought of taking a life, especially when they could help it.
Sure, they've killed the other Laughing Coffin members. But that was during a battle. They had "no other choice."
Now… They were helpless. Defenseless. And green players couldn't hide behind that excuse any longer.
So, one of them gambled, and tried to escape.
The other took a chance, and ended up the same way.
In the end, Yuuji didn't come any closer in finding out who their leader was, and their base. Two pieces of intelligence he needed to clear his missions.
But, it wasn't all in vain.
He found an item that one of the Laughing Coffin members dropped… A rare enchanting mineral only found on the 27th floor.
He had quite a lot of them. And he wasn't the only one.
Most of the Laughing Coffin members had their inventory mostly filled with these minerals.
'They must be trying to sell them…'
Although they were materials from the 27th floor, they were still quite valuable even on the higher floors.
And they must've taken a detour through the Labyrinth to avoid detection from other players before reaching their destination.
This single clue only led to one conclusion. To have this considerable amount of minerals meant that they must've been farming on the 27th floor for quite some time. And since red-players couldn't freely use the Teleporter Gate or enter cities and safe zones, the easiest and most sensible place to stay while they're farming would be on the same floor.
They must have a hidden base of operations there.
So, their target was obvious.
In order to pull the turtle out of its shell, Yuuji, Asuna, and Kirito had been destroying basses after basses. And they were not the only ones.
Yuuji had also anonymously tipped the larger guilds to the locations of Laughing Coffin's bases for them to strike.
Create enough chaos. Enough disruption. And the leader would have to come out and act personally, sooner or later.
But just as he and Asuna were about to survey Laughing Coffin's base on the 27th floor, Lux volunteered to help them.
In the end, she helped them search and survey the base's location, even infiltrating their ranks while pretending to be "captured" to identify their numbers and levels.
And before long, Yuuji and Asuna had what they needed and decimated the entire base along with everyone within it, leaving not even a ghost behind.
Lux then began following after the two, and they grew close.
Then, she met Yuna when the two came to visit her, and became close friends instantly.
Now, they were inseparable. Since Lux wasn't high leveled enough to be on the front lines and fight alongside Yuuji and Asuna anyway, she stayed with Yuna and accompanied her when she went to higher floors for her concerts.
And when she wasn't, she helped Yuuji searching for information on the red-player guild she was almost coerced into.
"You need to be careful. They'll surely try to uncover who struck their hidden base."
Lux waved her hand dismissively with a smile, though Yuuji knew she was smarter enough to not actually dismiss his words.
"I know. They must be pretty frustrated. It wouldn't be long before their leader comes out personally."
Then, she let out a sigh.
"At least, it'd be nice if I'm able to track the one that fled from the 27th floor…"
"The one named PoH?"
Lux nodded.
"Yes. When I infiltrated their base on the 27th's floor, he seemed to be quite the high ranking member. Perhaps even one of their top-dogs. It'd be great if I can just track him down."
"Is that so?"
Yuuji noted. He intended to hold off his investigation until the uproar he must've made after he raided one of their most hidden bases. But perhaps, it'd be helpful in his investigations moving forward.
'Ai… Help me get information on the player named PoH. Don't go too deep and risk alerting the system. At least, I want to know his standing in the guild.'
The player database, consisting of all of the players' data, were extremely well protected with plenty of alert systems that would warn the administrators if there were even any attempt in accessing them. And this was true even for those with legit credentials.
Ai would need time to be able to bypass all the securities to access the players' data without alerting the system and have it erase her as a "bug". Of course, it wouldn't truly destroy her, but she'd be kicked off the system for some time until she could work her way back, leaving Yuuji alone.
But the worst scenario would be alerting the creator of the game where he would, perhaps, take drastic measures that would hinder Yuuji's mission.
So, she had to be meticulous, and she had been diligently dismantling and replicating the game system herself, until she was no different than the game master.
She had made a lot of progress. She was just simply not done.
'Okay, master~!'
The energetic voice of his cute little super AI resounded within his mind. And before long, Asuna and Yuna approached them, ending their little secret conversation.
----------------------------------------------------------------
AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~! Please comment your thoughts~! I would love to hear what you think about it~!!!!
Also, if you'd like to read additional chapters ahead and get a pdf version (Light & Dark), please feel free to check out my at patr_eon.com/verglasx ~!
Thank you~!